Once More
by Pappillon
Summary: A one shot collection featuring White and Pink Diamond.
1. Once More

From the moment I emerged, others have always bowed to me. I remember my first few seconds of consciousness surrounded by rubble, destruction, and gems of an array of colors, pushing their faces into the dirt.

They had made goddesses long before I, or the other Diamonds, ever showed up. They're happiest when they have someone to serve. I came, and I was just what they had been searching for all of those years—someone enormous and glittering they could adore and fear. I gave them all a purpose, and they gave me an empire.

I have to tell you the truth; the role has always made me slightly uncomfortable. Every gem I had ever met looked upon me with a kind of terror I never actually earned. To this day, I see them shaking whenever they address me. 'My Diamond' almost never has an even, confident tone. My gems quiver. Gems that don't directly belong to me quiver more. Even the others, when I had gone to the site of their emergences, wore a certain terror until we embraced and they discovered that I hadn't come to murder them. That _yes,_ I was ecstatic more Diamonds had come, and it wasn't just me who carried the burden of terrifying goddess anymore.

Then Pink Diamond came. We knew of her long before she emerged. I believe one of my gemologists found her, growing well beneath the rock, near a field of flowers. I thought about her every day before she arrived. Whenever I returned to my chambers, my thoughts would stray back to that new Diamond. I wondered impatiently who she would be, what she would look like, if I would frighten her as much as I had the others.

The second the rock began to crack, Yellow, Blue, and I rushed over. We exited the ship and stood a good distance away to give her enough space. I remember my head pounding and the sweat as it slid along my face. Blue took one of my hands and Yellow took the other. I shook. We all did.

Then, finally, she burst forth. In a flash of light, she made destruction. Rocks and dust splattered everywhere like a hail storm. Eventually, the violence settled and there she was, this lovely pink thing with wild hair and a perfect stomach gem.

I couldn't help but cry. My stomach ached terribly from my nerves and she seemed so confused, but in the most unassuming way. Pink looked around—maybe she searched for us—and we came to her. When she first spotted us, she perked up immediately and ran our way—I swear she was _glowing_ —and without even exchanging words, she practically jumped into my arms, both naked and shameless.

Perhaps it's because my eyes were damp, or perhaps she simply knew I needed her embrace, but we held one another with Yellow and Blue on either side of us, squeezing just as tightly. Pink giggled the entire time we surrounded her.

"Look at you," I said. "You're so cute."

We looked into one another's faces, and she kissed me on the cheek. I don't know if she ever realized how much that meant to me. She had smiled, and without a moment's hesitation, touched me so easily.

"I'm glad you think so, but I wish you wouldn't cry."

What she said made everything so much worse. I'm certain I looked hideous, carrying on like I did, but overcome as I was, I couldn't stop my tears.

"You'll have to excuse White," Yellow said. "She's been waiting a long time. We all have."

"Oh—so this is White." She kissed my cheek again. "So you must be Yellow—" She kissed her as well. "And you must be Blue—oh, no. Now you're crying." Pink looped an arm around her, and pressed her lips into one of Blue's streams.

"We're all happy you're here, Pink."

"I'm happy to be here."

I'm sorry. I have to stop for a moment. Thinking of that day brings back a lot of happy times that hurt to retread now. Those traitors couldn't just be content with murdering her. They had to taint my memories too, so even thinking about her at all—as if keeping her memory alive isn't hard enough—

I'm sorry.

Let's continue.

All Diamonds know how to sing, even when they're very young, but even so, it is a power that needs to be practiced and harnessed. I always ended up teaching the others, having had the longest amount of time to develop my own skills. Naturally, I taught Pink too.

Unlike Yellow, who overanalyzed, or Blue, who dwelled, Pink rushed right in when she sang. Even though she made numerous mistakes in the beginning, she would always try her best. I would sit at my instrument and press a note for her, and she might be an entire octave above or below whatever I had played.

"Higher."

She sang too high.

"Better, but just a little bit lower than that."

She hit the flat of the note.

"Just a half step higher."

Then she finally hit it and she sang beautifully.

One day, after a particularly challenging lesson, she looked at me without a hint of upset on her face and said, "Wow. Singing is hard, White."

"Singing _is_ hard." I set my hand atop her head, flattening her soft, wild hair in the process. "But you're doing well. Today was quite difficult, but you're progressing. I'm proud of you."

She smiled, and I'm sure the sun came up somewhere. Her face developed a charming shade of dark pink and to that, I grinned back at her.

"White, do you think you could sing a song for me?"

"Oh, now why would I do that?" By that point, I had taken my hand back.

"I want to sing like you one day. Whenever I hear you, it always motivates me to practice."

"Pink," I said, "I'm flattered, but you can't sing _like me_. We don't have the same voice type."

"Oh." She looked flattened. "So, I'll never be as good?"

"No, that's not what I mean at all." The thought of hurting Pink's feelings makes my stomach ache to this very day. "Your goal shouldn't be to sing like I do. I have no doubt that you'll eventually be able to do it just as _well_ , but our voices will always sound different, because you're Pink Diamond, and I'm White. I'm here to help you develop your skills and make your voice sound beautiful, not so that it will sound like mine."

"Oh, okay." She shook off the pain immediately. "Would you sing for me anyway?"

"Alright. Do you have a request?"

I sang for her, and she watched me the entire time, eyes filled with wonder I hadn't seen for quite a few millennia. Blue and Yellow had grown used to my voice. They knew all of my tricks, and sometimes I swear I could see them almost sigh, as if to say, 'oh look, there she goes again.' I never meant to show off to them; singing is something I just love to do, but I suppose I can understand how it can get old.

I'm old.

But throughout her short existence, Pink never seemed sick of me. Even when I grew sick of myself, she always stayed optimistic, bright. Happy.

After that day, she only continued improving. I watched and played alongside her as she hit higher and lower notes. She began to sing with vibrato and did so with the correct pitch. I gave her songs to learn and she learned them well, always coming back to me having practiced and memorized all the words. She still made mistakes, but they were passionate mistakes with great effort behind them.

Once, we took a break near the window of my music room. It offered a view of space with many colors and stars inside it. A cloud of pink and purple stretched along the horizon, wearing the lights like a collection of jewels. Even though it was only stray space full of dust and particles, I never tired of looking at it, and that day, we admired it together.

At some point, Pink reached over to take my hand. The sensation shocked me at first. I hadn't expected it, but I didn't draw away. Instead, I turned to look at her and found her grinning at me.

"Sorry," she said. "You were so lovely just now."

"Oh, stop. You don't need to charm me."

"Well, alright." Pink came a little closer. "In that case, I'd like to kiss you."

"You don't normally ask."

"I'm not asking to kiss your cheek." She winked at me, and before I could reply, pressed our mouths together briefly. I could feel her giggle before she stepped back.

I pulled away.

"White—"

"I'm not angry at you—" I put my hand up to stop her speaking. "I just don't understand."

"What is there to understand? I wanted to share a kiss with you."

"But why?"

"I don't know." She gave me an odd smile. "You're beautiful and talented. I just wanted to…I don't know what else to say. I'm sorry, White."

"No one has ever kissed me on the lips before." My body, at that moment, tingled. Heat rose to my face, and I'm sure I looked uncharacteristically flustered.

"White, I had no idea. I thought for sure you would have—" Her face darkened as she trailed off. Pink couldn't look me in the eyes any longer and opted for glancing into space. "It was rude of me to take that from you. I should have asked first."

"You did ask, but you didn't wait for my answer."

Pink didn't reply to that; not immediately, anyway. Eventually, she said, "I should have waited, I'm sorry, White."

"It's fine. Don't worry about it, Pink. Let's get back to the lesson."

I don't regret having my first kiss with Pink, nor do I blame her for not understanding my circumstances. If I were her, I would make the same assumption. That White Diamond is awfully old; she must have kissed _someone_ by now. But I hadn't. Who would I have I kissed? Neither Blue nor Yellow had feelings toward me, and I'm not one to go about kissing common gems, and certainly not on the mouth.

But when I had come back to my chamber that day, I sat and thought for a long time against my cushion. The moment when Pink Diamond pressed her lips to mine replayed time and time again. The sensation she gave me was hardly unpleasant, but her motivation and emotions still confused me. Had Pink wanted to kiss me a long time? Had she developed a crush on me and kept it a secret until that day? Or had she really just been struck with the urge like she had suggested? On top of all that, how did I feel?

I kept coming to the conclusion that I wanted to experience it again. The kiss she gave me practically didn't count; it ended in milliseconds. Perhaps then, the spark I felt between us could have the chance to develop into a flame and I would know for certain.

Pink came back to me again for another voice lesson, and she seemed apologetic and slightly quieter than usual. We had seen one another after the last time, but not alone.

I greeted her as I always would, and we began our warm up. After several minutes, she seemed to calm and return to her normal self, bubbly and happy to sing.

Toward the end of the lesson, I asked her, "Pink, do you want to try and play my instrument?"

"Really?"

"Yes. Here, come sit next to me."

She took a place at my side and I took her hands and placed them upon the keys. "You usually start here—and if you like you can put your other hand there—yes, good." I had wrapped an arm around her, so that I could guide her. "Why don't you press some of the keys down?"

Just as she played a discordant sound, I kissed her, and felt her laughter again. Pink took her fingers from the instrument to wrap her arms around me and our mouths separated for a moment.

"You're not angry with me."

"Even if I were, I couldn't stay that way." Our lips met again, briefly. "I was surprised last time, but I thought about it, and I'd like to kiss you more."

She leaned forward to bridge the gap, and we remained that way for several long seconds.

Neither one of us knew what we were doing. She had opened her mouth to deepen the kiss, but I caught on too late, and we stopped to start over again. I think we were both nervous. Between attempts, Pink laughed, and eventually our tongues met and slid past one another.

That felt especially nice.

Pink held me close the entire time, even when we had to rearrange our faces to find a better angle. I recall a few of her fingers making their way into my hair and wrapping strands around themselves. I must have held her just as tightly. If I focus hard enough, I can still remember what it felt like, to share a kiss with her as she made tiny knots in my hair. She left me with my cheeks entirely grey and my clothes smelling like her sunshine, flowers, and dirt.

We separated and stared at the color we had painted onto one another's faces. My tongue felt raw and sensitive, but had she wanted to continue, I would have without hesitation.

We did, however, stop there.

"Thank you, White," she said. "That was lovely."

I touched a strand of her wild hair that had settled near her cheek. "Thank _you_ , Pink. This was your idea, after all."

"Maybe, but it's not like I could do it without you." She kissed the tip of my nose. "I'll see you next time?"

"Of course. Please practice your music." I kissed her forehead. "I'll see you next time."

I thought about Pink a lot between our lessons. She had a way of coming to mind, especially when I sat alone and tried to work. She would wash over me like a fever, and I would be stranded there, with my body on fire and the memory of her lips against mine.

During meetings, we might sneak one another looks from across the table. She would grin. Once, she had winked, quickly, to avoid drawing too much attention.

Slowly, we both grew better at kissing. After every lesson, we would end up latching our mouths together, and each time they fit together a little more easily.

Sometimes, the wait seemed so long between sessions, and I remember one time in particular when she arrived to my music room. Before she could come to my instrument, I connected our lips. I wanted her badly that day. Pink never protested. She giggled like she always did, but she never denied me, even though, looking back, it was ridiculous to begin kissing someone without even greeting them.

Perhaps she wanted it just as much, because on that day, her hands smoothed along my hips and her nails nearly scratched holes in my outfit.

"Oh, White. You're so beautiful."

"You're sweet, Pink."

She wanted to say more. I could feel it in the way her fingertips wrung little knots into my leggings.

I placed my palm against her neck. "You want to ask me a question."

"I don't know if it's a question."

"Well, what is it?" I could hear her gulp. The warmth of her blush radiated from her face. "Pink, are you thinking something lewd?"

She released something between a gasp and a sigh. "Maybe."

Despite my surprise at her kiss, this didn't come as a shock at all. Pink came at the end of a long line of gems who were curious about my naked body. Yet, the only ones who had ever seen me were a few of my Pearls. They liked to whisper about my measurements; I'm sure they gossiped to other members of my court. I've caught numerous pairs of small eyes looking me up and down (but mostly up), and I suppose if I had a Diamond to serve, I might stare at her curves myself.

Had I not seen Pink on the day she emerged, I would have been curious about her too.

"Are you telling me that you want to look at my body, Pink?"

"Is that alright?" She took a step back, so we could glance into one another's faces. Despite her request, she looked right into my eyes, honestly. "I didn't want to touch you without asking first, or ogle you. If you decided to show me, I would admire you, because your body is a gift, White."

I slapped her playfully on her left cheek—not enough to hurt, but she did look surprised. "Alright, Charmer," I said. "Since you asked so nicely, I might allow you to see. Let's finish our lesson first. Then we can talk."

"Yes, Ma'am."

"Did you practice?"

She nodded against my open hand, eyes glittering. Pink seemed stunned, and remained a moment after I left to sit at my instrument.

We didn't make it halfway through the lesson before we both sat at the bench, hooking our mouths together.

"Come with me."

I lead her to my innermost room, where we sat upon my cushion and undressed one another. Our hands quivered in between kisses. Pink's face had grown so saturated, and I'm sure mine had too.

Once she removed all of the clothing from my upper half, I covered my breasts. I felt as though my body had caught fire, and all I could do was stare listlessly at Pink, who displayed her uncovered form with ease.

"White, are you okay?" She reached out, to touch my arm. "We can stop if—"

"No, I'm alright. I'm just feeling a little shy."

"Well—you look beautiful." Despite the situation, she left a chaste kiss against my cheek. "Would it be easier for you to touch me?"

"Perhaps." My open hand brushed past her collarbone. "I think I'd like you to touch me too."

"Okay. Just let me know if it gets to be too much."

Pink was so gentle. She handled my breasts as though she might break them and touched the rest of me lightly. What we did back then would hardly be satisfying now, but at the time I felt intoxicated. I don't even remember how long we spent together, but it seemed like an eternity.

We made one another climax with our fingers before stopping, because at that point, both of us had other matters to attend to. I walked to the main entrance of my chambers, and we said goodbye to one another numerous times amongst continuous hugs and kisses.

Being with Pink made me feel young. After living for so many millennia, I had found sensations with her that I hadn't experienced before. I began to long for our time alone together. We would still have lessons, of course, but afterward, we would go to my room and touch one another as we had the first time.

Pink was always eager, but reverent. She never treated me with any kind of savage thirst, nor did she ever seem to grow bored of being together. That's a quality of hers I miss.

One day, all of the Diamonds attended a meeting about a new batch of planets some of our astronomers had found. We sat in our normal positions at the table, which placed me across from Pink and next to Yellow and Blue. I began our meeting with a few announcements and brought up the topic of our conversation, as I usually did. All three of the others listened, but I couldn't help but notice Blue frequently glancing to Pink, who always smiled back. There was something furtive in Blue's expression—a certain glow to her cheeks, a kind of twinkle in her sad eyes every time she looked over.

I lost track of what I was saying on several occasions, only to have Yellow Diamond correct me or cut me off with a question. From there, our meeting commenced as every other before it had.

Even just talking to Blue from that day forward, I could tell she had fallen in love. I once invited her over for tea in the midst of it all and she couldn't quite focus. Her mind always drifted to somewhere and _someone_ else. Her cheeks wore a perpetual blush and she sparkled even more strongly than she had before.

I had caught them in the halls once, with their arms linked and everyone in their courts saluting as they passed by. All the present gems began to do the same for me, but those two never turned around. They were too busy laughing with one another.

I won't bother lying. I was hurt, and it wasn't so much because Pink loved someone else, but because she never spoke to me about it. At the time, a cloud of jealousy clouded my mind, and I arrived home that evening only to begin weeping. I frightened my poor Pearls, and dismissed them to be alone.

In hindsight, I don't know that I had fallen in love with Pink. As I began to calm down, I realized that Pink and I had never promised ourselves to one another. I wouldn't dare call her my girlfriend, and my affection for her never became romantic, even though I did love her. Perhaps she never thought to tell me that Blue Diamond had fallen for her, or that they had coupled in the way that we had. Pink was certainly naïve, but she never meant to hurt anyone. She might have been careless with my, and even Blue's feelings, but these mistakes never came out of being vindictive.

Pink came to me for a normal lesson after we hadn't spoken for several long days. I sat at my instrument, refusing to turn and look at her. Even though I couldn't see her, I knew she approached slowly and reproachfully by the sound of her steps.

"White, are we going to have a lesson today?" Her voice came out more quietly than usual.

I took a long time to answer. "Do you do the same things with Blue Diamond that you do with me?"

She didn't respond.

I turned to look her in the eyes. "Have you told her about our relationship? I'm sure she would be heartbroken—"

"Blue doesn't know." She took in the sight of her feet, unable to meet my gaze any longer.

"She's in love with you, Pink, and she deserves your honesty. You shouldn't play with either of our emotions. This isn't a game."

"I didn't think it was."

" _Then what are you doing?_ " I nearly slammed my fist onto a few unfortunate keys. "I thought I meant more to you than that."

"You mean a lot to me, White. So does Blue. I never intended for this to happen."

"Well, here we are, regardless of your intentions. Did you also intend for me not to figure it out?"

"No, I just didn't think it was a big deal—" She sighed. "I don't know what to say. I'm sorry."

"'I'm sorry' is a good start." I stood. "On second thought, Pink, don't tell Blue. You'll only hurt her. I'm going to make this easy. We won't be making love any longer. Please don't kiss me again. I still need to teach you to sing, so I expect you to continue coming here for that, but that's all. I can't control what you do, but you should keep yourself exclusive to Blue. And if you've already started fucking Yellow, I suggest you choose one. That will be all."

"I'm not fucking Yellow." Her voice practically tapped me on the shoulder.

"Come again?"

"I'm not fucking Yellow."

"Well then, I suppose your choice is easy. Be sure not to start. Yellow is much harsher with liars than I am."

"I'm sorry I hurt you."

I continued walking before I began to cry.

Poor Pink. I now have no doubt she meant what she said, but back then I felt betrayed. Believing I had been cheated, I didn't care to hear her out. We moved on. I continued to teach her to sing; Blue fell deeper in love, and eventually, I forgave her.

Only a couple hundred years after that, she died. Instead of breaking just one of our hearts, she broke all three. We're still lost in the aftermath of that fateful day when we learned the news.

I think back to that time and wonder if I could have approached it differently. Perhaps she, Blue, and I could have talked about what had happened. It's possible Blue wouldn't have been entirely heartbroken; maybe we could have worked something out.

I hope that Pink understood I forgave her. With the short time she had been alive, she didn't deserve to spend it in purgatory, wondering how I felt. I still believe she handled the situation poorly, but she was worthy of my honesty, too. I loved her. She was a light in all of our lives that those damn rebels extinguished. At first, I wanted her brightness to myself, but if sharing somehow meant still having her around, I would do it in a snap of the fingers.

Ultimately, none of that matters. Even Diamonds can't make bargains with death. Now we have no choice but to accept the past and live with our regrets. I desperately wish I could tell her I forgave her. Sometimes I imagine holding her close and I can nearly feel her soft skin and her wild, fluffy hair against my face. But all of that is just one more conversation and one more embrace her passing took from me.

Sometimes I feel just as broken. There are so many songs I can no longer sing.


	2. Reunion

The air on Homeworld blew cold that day, pushing the soft clouds along the rose canvas of the sky. White watched over the scene from her chambers, a few steps from her window, attention clinging to the statue of herself in the distance.

Blue had pulled her out and placed Yellow's stone in. Now the Diamond in her forehead held the incorrect color and it was _her_ electricity that powered Homeworld, instead of White Diamond's light.

It took several minutes for White to return. After having been trapped within her own head for thousands of years, she lagged with a fogginess one might experience when coming out of a coma, and Blue Diamond, with her hand atop the eldest empress', said simply, "It was Yellow. She shattered Pink." She spoke with tears ebbing at the corners of her eyes, and White embraced her, also expressing streams that flowed on for several long minutes.

And everything, in what ways it could, returned to the new version of normal, still with only two Diamonds instead of four. White ruled again, and had her gem polished; she took several long lava baths and greeted her subjects, who returned to her with tears in their eyes. Nearly all of them came to weeping upon seeing her. Merely viewing her flipped the switch of their stability and they were left trying to hold the tears inside their ducts.

White caught her reflection in the window briefly, sparkling consistently in the light of her room. In the distance, she found her statue. Looking at it, her eyes weighed as heavy. Everything that had happened—the parts she was both unconscious and unconscious for—coagulated into a dense, black, incomprehensible ball that weighed at the bottom of her throat. Even attempting to take it apart was like dismantling a puzzle within a puzzle, but where both halves are entirely intertwined. Touching even one piece effected the entire enigma, so White gave up and let it sit as she regarded Yellow's gem in the distance, her finger tips pressed to the cool glass of her window.

Despite the knots in her stomach, White's clothing flowed airily around her. By her Pearl's suggestion, she wore the leisurely attire of an empress on her day off. Her gown frothed and flowed like ocean lace and she shone, unconsciously, with all the beads they had suggested she wear.

"My Diamond," one of her Pearls poked her head out from behind the side of the door. "Blue Diamond has come to see you."

The eldest empress took a moment to respond, "Please send her in."

"Yes, ma'am."

Well in the background, the main chamber doors opened with a few mechanical whirrs and a gasp when both sides came apart. Whispered words emerged around it, but died down so quickly that White didn't break her focus from the scene before her. Long seconds of silence passed, even without the movement of Blue Diamond's cloak, and White finally turned around.

"Blue? Have you entered?"

"I have." Another silent pause ensued.

"You're welcome to come in." Her attention didn't shift, and she added, "I'm descent."

"Oh, yes. I'm coming!" The air around Blue's speech contained the sound of moving lips and what sounded like voiceless laughter, causing White to turn around entirely and raise one of her fine brows.

"Blue? What are you doing over there?"

Finally, the whispering drew White from her room and standing near the entrance of her apartments was Blue Diamond, but standing slightly behind her stood a few flashes of vibrant Pink.

They looked directly at one another, all three of them freezing completely upon White's arrival. The eldest Diamond drew in a breath and locked it inside her chest, shaking.

Standing before her was the Diamond she had watched emerge thousands of years ago, partially hiding behind Blue's cloak. Her cheeks retained their rosy hue, just as they had since the first day, framed by a head of wild and silly hair. Her expression beamed with a crooked smile she tried to contain, but still, Pink allowed it to spread across the furthest corners of her face as she laughed her eyes closed. She, too, produced a bottle's worth of tears and they flowed from her, causing her rose face to grow even rosier.

White watched as Pink choked. She had set her palm upon her chest and could hardly breathe herself, savagely paralyzed by the sight before her. Every particle of her stopped, and she struggled to fill her lungs, even though the tears came for a solid seven seconds before both ran forward and captured one another.

White squeezed Pink so hard she almost popped, but Instead of exploding into a rain of sugar and glitter, she remained securely in White's arms, sweet laughter echoing around the walls of the room. It increased in bursts every time White kissed her cheeks, or her forehead, and once even her lips. The goddess had ceased aiming and captured whatever parts of Pink she could, as if stopping would cause her to crumble away.

"Is it really you?" White stopped kissing her for a moment to hold either side of her warm face and study it a short distance away. Even though the tears ruined her vision, she could still make out her funny expression. Pink had hoisted her brows and puckered her lips, releasing a few beads of sweat beneath White's blurred scrutiny. "How in the world did you come back? I thought—"

"Rose Quartz healed me. I can remember where I stopped existing, and then…" She blinked, "and then it began, and Blue was there. I can't believe it either." The tears came more furiously and bent her mouth around an even larger crooked smile. White clutched her close again with one of her hands settling upon the younger Diamond's back and the other trapped around her waist like a seatbelt. There was hardly a molecule of space between them. Despite the pressure, Pink wrapped her arms around White and rubbed their cheeks together, even if both had been soaked by tears.

"You're never leaving this planet again."

"Oh, come on. Please?"

"Absolutely not."

"But, White—" she inhaled and pushed more tears out. "How will I be able to do my job if I can't leave? What if you have a party somewhere else?" She laughed and cried. "I'll get so bored."

"I don't care. You're going to stay right here, where I can see you." White caught a glimpse of Blue, who had consumed herself with wiping up her tears. White opened the arm that had landed along Pink's back for her, and when she took a few steps forward, folded her inside the embrace until she held both of the other Diamonds and they held her.

The three of them remained that way for an indiscernible amount of time, eventually separating without words as twilight laced its darkness into the sky. In the coming night, the gem implanted into the statue's head glowed faintly, and the three of them regarded the odd glimmer beneath the electricity she made.

White took Pink's hand and then Blue's.

"Can I talk to her? Maybe not right now, but…"

The eldest empress squeezed both sets of fingers. "Maybe so, but let's wait a while. There is already so much…"

Blue Diamond regarded the floor and Pink completed the circle by weaving their digits together.

"Yeah, maybe after a while."

Night finally fell, and each of the Diamonds eventually went her own way. They would reunite again, beneath another morning sky, beneath a different beam of sun, and beneath another Diamond's power. Where one unhappiness left a wound, an overwhelming joy filled and repaired it. Even though some bitterness hung around in the dried blood and the scars, all four of them made at least one step closer to being whole again.


	3. Rumors

Rumors circulated around the town like the frequent morning fog. They covered the cobblestone streets and drifted past the store fronts. Folks gathered in small groups to whisper to one another, far away from the forest that bordered the town. Perhaps speaking the word too loudly would summon one. No one risked it.

Pamina watched them congregate outside her bakery. Everyone morning, reports of missing cattle wafted through her door. Once, more drastically, the blacksmith's horse, Fritz, had disappeared into the night. The townspeople gathered and searched, but found nothing more than blood stains in the woods, but never any skeletons; never anything more.

Pamina had offered to come and look, but most everyone insisted she stay and tend to her bakery. "You're young," they said. "What if that thing finds you and drags you away?" So, she remained and baked her bread, sugared her rolls, and snapped her gingers until the search proved fruitless anyway. Somehow, the fog grew denser by the day.

"Will you be able to walk home all by yourself, Pamina?" One of her customers asked her.

"Oh, I'm sure I'll be fine, but thank you anyway." She handed them the freshly stuffed bag of bread and pastries along with their change.

"Let me know if you change your mind. The nights keep getting darker and darker…"

That evening, Pamina closed up her shop and began her journey home. She lived just at the edge of town, inside the meadow where the woods began and the path ended. Sometimes visitors would come to check on her, saying that they had heard strange noises and bumps in the night, but without any livestock, Pamina had no incidents to report.

Once her old shoes reached the end of the cobblestones, night had almost fallen. The remaining light faded fast behind the faraway mountains and grew obscured anyway. She marched along the flowers and grass that lead to her cottage, while the stars appeared from beneath their blanket of deepening purple.

Somewhere, a twig snapped.

And for a second, Pamina stopped.

The falling night offered her silence, so she brushed away some of the flour from her pink skirts and continued walking.

A few seconds passed and not too far in the distance, a branch broke, accompanied by a growl. Pamina looked well ahead into the forest, but found nothing but the full, rising moon capsize over the tops of the trees. She clutched her purse tighter and quickened her pace by a small percentage. Her cottage lied in sight.

As Pamina approached her front walkway, and by extension, the forest, she could practically see the outlines of the trees and the darkness that stood between them. Somewhere in that mess of branches, something snapped again, and despite being close to her front door, Pamina stopped and clutched the buckles of her purse. She nearly felt her lungs inflate as the air grew colder and the night fell closer to the tops of the trees.

Just for a moment, she squinted and stared into the thick gathering of trunks, and there appeared a pair of enormous silver eyes. They glowed the way coins would at the bottom of a wishing well, and upon catching them, the young lady gasped. They had found her and looked on, not moving forward or backward but bobbed up and down with the creature's breath.

Finally, Pamina gripped the handle of her bag and ran to the front door, locking it behind her and exhaling her lungs flat.

"You have to be kidding me!"

She stomped to the back of her house, past the salon and into the kitchen, to look out the window. Though she found the place between the trees she had only just seen, the eyes had disappeared and left only darkness. Still, even from inside her modest cottage, she heard the sound of forest shredding and trees falling.

Pamina sighed. A few of her fingers combed through her wild hair as she moved from the window and made her dinner, which eventually led to her going to bed.

Her room on most nights was incredibly dark, but on that evening, the moonlight bled through the windows and onto the floor. On a few occasions, it cut through her sleep by shining into her eyelids, so she had to draw the blankets over her forehead until a tuft of her auburn hair remained the only part of her exposed. Despite the covers, the sounds still occurred outside—some of which seemed to come from just the other side of her wall. Pamina heard loud panting, low growling, and once even a howling that sounded further away.

On a few occasions, she had even gone outside the next morning and found a hole beneath her fence. Some creature had taken its paws and dug under it, until the planks had begun to lean. The flowers and mint she grew at the time remained untouched and Pamina shook her head at the vandalism.

On another occasion, she had found various patches of torn-out silver fur around her garden. They had been scattered about, and were coarse to the touch, but beautiful. Holding a few strands, Pamina turned them between her fingers to make them pick up the light, and they shimmered back, like the eyes in the woods.

The next morning, she woke to an unnatural silence. The regular birds didn't chirp, nor did the breeze blow. The morning brightness went unencumbered by any clouds or obstructions, and Pamina walked through it as if she'd ended up in a bizarre afterlife. Even her footsteps upon the wooden floor seemed far too loud, so she tried to dress quietly, nearly tiptoeing around the house until she put on her pink dress from yesterday and glanced again from the kitchen window.

There, in the grass of her garden, slept a woman. Her gown held about ten different, long, terrible scratches through it. Reduced to shreds, it revealed her breasts and legs, and underneath that ripped napkin of a garment were several streaks of blood. Most notably, the stain around her mouth afflicted her lips and chin as though she had dipped them in a bowl of red paint and allowed it to dry.

Pamina gasped and went outside, stamping her feet a little as she approached the near corpse.

"Frau Weiss!" She said, "I knew it was you! Why are you all torn up like this?"

The body gurgled and clenched her eyelids but didn't wake, so Pamina smoothed her hands over her skirts and took her beneath the arms. She dragged Frau Weiss though the grass and the flowers, past the singular step off the back door, past the kitchen and the flour-laden floor, and onto the rug in the center of the living room. From her little sofa, she removed a pillow, fluffed it, and placed it beneath the woman's head of impressive hair. It flowed on like a river made of silver, and if she stood up, would stop along the center of her back.

Before going to the kitchen to fetch a rag, Pamina stopped to regard the little crow's feet around her long-lashed eyes and the pretty curve of her rosy cheeks. She traced the unconscious woman's delicate jaw with her middle and index finger, trailing through the blood, and then finally stood back up to fetch the cloth.

"One of these days, you're going to get into a lot of trouble, Frau Weiss."

From the kitchen, Pamina could only see her body up to the neck. Her shapely breasts rose and fell with her breathing while her long fingers twitched. She didn't speak, but had just begun to hum when Pamina came back and opened the buttons of her torn gown.

"It's a shame. I really liked this outfit." Her nails gripped the bloody lace and peeled it from the wounds. Frau Weiss moaned, but had yet to open her eyes. "You owe me for this, you know. It's impolite to pass out in someone else's garden." When she touched one of the cuts with the cool cloth, the woman finally shouted, writhing in the sensation.

"Good morning, Frau Weiss. It looks like you had an eventful evening."

"Fräulein —" She gasped. Her quivering hand sat atop Pamina's as her expression twisted in pain.

"Did you forget it was going to be a full moon? I thought about sending you a note, but that might have been suspicious. Maybe I could have told you about my day and mentioned near the bottom, 'Can you believe another month has passed?'" Pamina exaggeratedly winked. "Next time I think that's what I'll do."

Frau Weiss laughed a little and then writhed again from giggling with wounds. Her teeth clenched and she exhaled.

"I'm sorry." Pamina cleaned around her face. "I'll try not to make you smile too much. Not until you're bandaged up, at least."

"No, I'm sorry. I've troubled you so many times." Frau Weiss glanced away as Pamina cleaned her lips. They were awfully close.

"I should have just let you chain me up. I can't remember anything that happened, but I'm certain I had a fight." A few moments passed and Pamina cleaned most of the blood from her face, though her mouth remained stained from the night before. "I had forgotten it was time. I'm ashamed that such a thing happened, but…"

"You shouldn't be ashamed." Pamina touched the side of her clean lips with the cloth, near the curve of one of her parentheses. "I'm only sad that you're torn up. This dress was so beautiful." She followed the curve to her chin.

"I'll heal, though I too am sad about the dress."

Pamina began to wipe her neck, where the blood had dried into a layer of dark red scabs.

"I was wearing a string of pearls yesterday. They broke when I transformed, even though I tried to remove them. I was standing just outside my house, in the backyard. I really hope they're still there."

"I remember that necklace!" She leaned a little closer. "You have to try to come to me next time, Diana. Before any more of your wardrobe—Oh," her face popped with color. "I'm sorry, _Frau Weiss._ "

"You can use my first name, Pamina."

The baker had cleaned down to her collarbone. "Thank you," and she paused too long, leaving her mouth slightly open in a sunny smile. "…Diana." Pamina winked again, murdering the giggles bubbling up from her stomach.

"Stop—" Diana tried to do the same. "I don't want to laugh right now! You're so silly—"

"I'm sorry," she held still with her fingers settling upon the older woman's neck. "Listen, I need to clean and bandage your wounds, but it's going to hurt. Are you ready?"

"I suppose so, but I can wait if I'm going to make you late for work."

"Nonsense. I won't be able to focus anyway, if you're here in pain and bleeding. I would rather be a little late than imagine you alone, suffering, and leaking blood on the carpet."

"Am I getting blood on the carpet?"

Pamina touched some of Diana's silver hair. "Only a little bit."

"I'm so sorry."

"Don't worry about it." Pamina stood and went back to the kitchen.

From her place on the floor, Dina heard her, scrubbing out the cloth beneath the running sink water, and later going into the cabinets and placing numerous bandages into the sack she made of her skirt. Like she had many time before, Pamina came back to Diana, holding up the top layer of her dress and all its supplies, setting them one by one upon the floor before kneeling at her side. Pamina had stuck her tongue out of her mouth, helping her to focus.

That made Diana laugh again.

"What? What's so funny? I didn't even wink at you."

"I'm sorry," her mouth condensed to a smirk. "You're so cute."

"I'm cute, huh? You're not going to think that in a few seconds."

Still, Frau Weiss smiled and kept smiling, while Pamina widened her eyes and bit down on her tongue as the cloth descended, almost touching the wounds. The approaching hand moved slowly, like a defiant child beneath the watchful eyes of her parent when told explicitly not to touch something. Pamina's face grew more ridiculous by the minute, until her mouth bent in numerous unnecessary places and her brows rose nearly to her hair. Diana saw her gums beneath her upper lip, which revealed her top row of teeth covering her bottom lip entirely, with her tongue hanging out, biting her chin.

"Stop—" the older woman pleaded again. "That's such a stupid face!"

Pamina breathed through her teeth and dilated her nostrils, causing Diana to laugh even harder. Her hand shook the cloth over the cuts, almost touching them, but still hovering a hair away from contact. With her mouth like that, she tried to speak, "Arl yoh rleddih?"

Frau Weiss nearly rolled. "No, please, stop—" she begged. "Ooh, it hurts."

Pamina laughed too, wiped the drool from her chin, and the tears from her Diana's eyes. "I think you might be the cute one, Frau Weiss. Now really, let's get you bandaged up."

"Alright," she settled. "Thank you, Fräulein."

Pamina always cleaned Diana's cuts gently. With her cloth, she collected the blood without making the poor woman howl, and quickly placed bandages over them. Sometimes, the skin of her fingers would brush against Diana's flesh. The sides of her prints might catch a soft patch of breast, or brush past her navel. Regardless, Pamina worked quickly, hands moving even when they smirked at one another from the moments before. When she playfully pinched Diana's left nipple, their smirks turned into smiles.

Pamina had nearly finished, and wove her fingers with her guest's. "I hate whoever has done this to you. I don't think you deserved it."

Diana clutched her hand and closed her eyes with the incoming pain and the incoming cloth.

Once Pamina had finished and covered Diana's torso beneath a blanket of gauze, she laid on the floor next to her. Frau Weiss didn't roll toward her, but she did turn her head of newly messy hair until their faces were a short distance away, and Pamina kissed her on the cheek.

"I have to go soon," she started, "but you can stay as long as you want. If you need to leave, you can borrow one of my dresses, and if you're hungry I have some bread and cheese in the kitchen." She kissed the tip of Diana's nose. "I wish I could hug you, but I'm worried about your cuts, so this will have to do." Pamina pressed her lips against her guest's forehead, perfectly in the center, and then stood. "I hope I'll see you again soon, Frau Weiss."

"You will, Fräulein. Thank you for your help."

"Of course."

Pamina readied for work as the sun continue to rise, stepping around Diana and stopping occasionally to kiss her on the cheek. Having put on a fresh dress, she gathered her bag and slung it over her shoulder, and lingered at the door.

"Thank you for stopping over, Frau Weiss."

"Thank _you_ , Fräulein . I hope you have a wonderful day."

"I'm sure I will. It's already off to a great start." Pamina opened the door and paused, offering Diana a gentle grin. "Stay out of trouble, won't you?"

"At least for another month."

After the last goodbyes, Pamina finally left, worked a normal day amongst the light fog and heavy gossip, and came home to find a recently cleaned carpet and a thank you note above the fireplace, composed in Frau Weiss's perfect characters. She had indeed borrowed a dress from Pamina's closet, and intended to pay her back twofold for her kindness, and though she might have been a troublesome and undesired guest, Diana was quite pleased to be able to meet her, despite the unfavorable circumstances.

Pamina read the note a few times over the course of a peach someone had given her at the bakery. Then she went about her nightly ritual, and a few days passed.

Business ebbed and flowed as it usually did. Pamina made and sold most of her bread, and the eyes disappeared from the woods. One day, as she spoke to a particularly talkative customer, an elegantly dressed woman walked in, a little old with silver hair that stretched halfway down her back. She held with her a large bag, filled with a dress at the bottom and a box of chocolates near the top.

"Oh, Pamina. You live so close to those awful woods. Are you sure you'll be alright?"

Frau Weiss grinned to her and Pamina winked back.

"I think I'll be just fine, thank you," and she handed the woman her bag of bread and pastries.


	4. Old Hymns

White Diamond's chambers went on forever. A series of rooms followed rooms, some sections connecting to one another via warp pad, where roaming bands of Pearls did daily duties assigned to them eons ago. Some hadn't seen their Diamond in years.

Past the organized and godless lands of sprawling hallways, leisure rooms, and heavy doors, White looked through her cameras at the end point of her chambers where no one went any longer. Through the many password protected doors and the old goddess statues gathering dust, she regarded one room in particular.

"Pearls," she said from the helm of her control room. "Please leave."

"Yes, My Diamond," the two that had stood with her replied and went away. White locked the door behind them before sitting in silence a few moments and calling Yellow.

The light of her largely marble surroundings grew golden beneath the call's influence. Even before she had answered, her colors reflected upon White's blank face, and her voice arrived before her image.

A little terse, she said, "Hello, White."

"Yellow," White coughed, and pressed her fingers against her disobedient throat. "I called to ask for your help regarding—"

"We both know I'm not going to be able to help. We've tried. Is there anything else?"

White sat back upon her throne. "I think it's time we tell Blue."

Yellow didn't answer, but chewed up one side of her mouth. Running her tongue past her teeth and shaking her head, she said, "You had better not say a single _word_ to her. I don't want her seeing that _thing_. It's time we move on."

White's screen showed every deliberate breath Yellow made, as well as the points of her high-definition stare. Without a response, she continued, "Do you understand how embarrassing this would be for her? Blue is better off believing she's shattered, and I'll be livid if you say one word about it. You made a promise."

White took her turn and collected a breath, releasing it almost in molecules. She set her decorated hand against the gem on her forehead.

"If anything, you could bubble her. I'm sure my lightning—"

"No," White replied too quickly and sighed as a result. "No, thank you. I suppose I'll talk to you later then."

"Very well." Without a moment's pause, Yellow hung up and the room returned to all its regular hues and noise. White remained still a long time. Her Pearls came back and time continued on as if the air hadn't been dyed temporarily yellow.

There was a little time, between that shift and the next, when White traveled down her halls. Her feet moved fast, past the old relics and the pictures on the walls. Blue and Yellow's eternally painted gazes caught her a few times as she moved across patches of old carpet and mismatched tile floor.

From start to finish, White's chambers occurred like a timeline, with the most recent items in the front to the most ancient in the back, and some anachronisms in between. Where there stood recent and fashionable statues of her, carved in uncanny detail, there might also be a piece of interesting spaceship the technicians couldn't repair, or a photo someone had taken of a colorful group of stars, tangled into a shape. Like a museum curator, White collected things. A conspiracy theorist highlighting the passages in a book, she found odd portions of history in the occasional waste her gems would bring her. They might present something with both hands and a face full of guilt or wonder and say, "My Diamond, Your Majesty, I've found something that may pique your interest," or, "My Sparkling, All-knowing Diamond, I am unable to repair this."

If unique enough, White would take the item and find a place for it. Some she labeled; most she didn't, and the statues became more outdated the further in she traveled, until Pink's gaze, too, began to speckle the walls.

At the intersection of another statue modeling a sequined dress and an old painting, White stepped onto a warp pad that took her deeper into the chambers, where even more relics awaited her, amongst the roaming bands of Pearls who banished dust from them.

Eventually, she had gone in far enough where the statues stopped resembling her and morphed into different goddesses instead. White stopped walking before one made of glass.

Like they had depicted her countless times, the figure had its arms stretched out, as if she carried Homeworld and its bounty inside them. Her long flowing hair representing the never-ending body of stars, and like a fusion, she had four all-seeing eyes.

They used to pray to her, before White Diamond came.

Years and years after she emerged, they slowly stopped believing. Anyone left quit entirely once Yellow and Blue arrived. The Diamonds performed their miracles and none of their gems believed without evidence any longer. They then had evidence, and it would be heretical to believe that a force existed more powerful, more knowledgeable, than a _Diamond_.

White looked at the goddess of everything in the face. Her features were delicate, with large pouting lips and long lashes carefully represented in crystal.

When they were all still savages, they must have needed a goddess like this; perfect, and beautiful, who owned and loved them all.

"Why don't you just break that thing?" Yellow had asked. "There's no use in having it around. The time before the Diamonds is over. I'm surprised you didn't shatter it the moment you saw it."

"I don't know," White replied. "I find it interesting." At that moment, they both regarded the statue before moving it into the secret chambers of White's room, forever. "I would be a little sad to shatter it."

"Suit yourself."

Many of the old goddess statues had been shattered. Yellow had broken some, and both Diamonds had ordered their gems to break the others, until only a few remained in the safety of White's halls, where no one could grind them up.

Even if all the goddesses had been turned to dust, the remnants would stick around. Perhaps they would become particles of sand which would make a stained-glass window, presenting White's face. They still had songs from that time. They had changed the lyrics, but used the same chords and similar instruments. Sometimes those ancient tunes echoed around the halls.

White Diamond stopped lingering and moved to the furthest point of her chambers, then placed her hand against the pad upon the door. It scanned her heartlines and fingerprints, until the entrance separated in the center, with both sides rolling back like an eye opening.

Before stepping inside, White Diamond looked behind her, and after a pause, moved forward. Somewhere else, perhaps on a screen that no one watched, she appeared and approached the creature lying in the corner of the room.

It rose with her presence, in smooth serpentine movements. Feathers ruffled and many bright eyes opened, as it showed its bottom row of pointed teeth. From the gap came a slender and curious tongue, which moved as if lapping up the air.

White held out her hands. "Come here," she said and didn't move her firmly rooted feet when the creature approached, despite its size trumping hers. Even on all fours, it came to her height and set its long snout into her hand.

White brushed the monster's neck and brought their foreheads together, despite touching some of the sensitive eyes that had grown out of control, like an asymmetrical flaring of sores. Its large and small eyes blinked upon contact, nervous and fluttering as they settled their faces together and exhaled in unison.

"I know. You must get so lonely here. I'm sorry."

The beast chirped, and began cleaning White with its tongue, licking past the flat face of the diamond in her forehead and then moving to groom her hair. Using its teeth, the creature brushed through White's untamed thorn bush, infusing her locks with nourishing saliva to help her do away with the split ends and damage.

" _Would you stop?_ " White had to push its face away and held it still as they stared at one another. That long tongue came to sample her hand. "You always do this when I come and see you, even though I've told you many times that this is the best it's going to get. Surely, your _Eau de Bouche_ isn't helping."

The creature tapped their heads together and nuzzled its smell all over White.

"Honestly, you never listen to me. You never have and I doubt you ever will."

In cuddling her, the creature nearly knocked White off balance.

"I know. I missed you too. I didn't miss your saliva, but I'm willing to overlook that. Will you be good today?"

They looked at one another and a low noise erupted from the creature's mouth. In a sudden burst of energy, it pulled away and began to run around the room, claws clicking on the smooth floor as its long feathers shimmered. They shook and some shed, like the aftermath of a pillow fight, landing along the floor and glistened like the scales of a beautiful reptile.

The creature panted loudly and sometimes gave an excited shriek.

"Alright, alright." White walked to the edge of the room and sat, where the beast and its long limbs skidded to a stop and lay on top of her, rolling with pleasure at the scratching of her nails. Still, White moved carefully around its neck, where she had occasionally found a stray eye hiding beneath the downy feathers. She had poked one once, and caused it to cry, so she brushed slowly and with her prints, rather than her pointed nails.

The creature closed its many eyes for her, and White began to sing.

She used to put on a show. For no one other than the beast, she and Yellow would sing backwards, making their potent overtones through the echoes they bounded across the walls. For a moment, it might work. Some of the eyes would start to close and disappear. The feathers dissipated to glittery dust, until her talons began to resemble regular nails and her claws became more like hands.

But after a certain point, it was never enough. No matter how frequently they tried nor how loud they sang, the creature remained a creature. Yellow had stopped coming after a while and left White to visit by herself.

Just like she did that day, she would normally allow the beast to lie on top of her and sing softly to it. Alone, at a low volume, the notes would sometimes erase one of the eyes, or make the feathers disappear like a minor magic trick, but most of all, they caused the beast to calm and even to fall asleep for a few moments as White's fingers combed through.

The syllables she sang didn't have any meaning. The original song didn't have a meaning either. She merely arranged the notes in the correct order, in the correct pitch, for the correct amount of time, at least once a week. White closed her eyes and focused, exercising some of the feathers.

"I pray that one day she'll allow Blue to help you."

When the notes stopped, the feathers and eyes started railing back, growing like the unruly vines of a savage jungle.

"I also pray that you'll forgive me, and perhaps one day, I'll be able to see your face again."

The creature released a little hiss and most of its consciousness, settling well into White's arms. The Diamond then picked up her ancient song with its lost meanings, and after a determined number of seconds, closed the doors to her inner sanctum. She promised to come again next week and sing to absolve her sins, but even with all the power woven into her being, she could do nothing more.


	5. Overprotective

Wearing her white uniform, she tucked herself into the window. Its curtains, tacked together by long and short stitches, cast a shadow to hide her as White and Yellow's sounds echoed within the vast tea room.

It sat surprisingly empty, a long table and few chairs in the center, bordered by seafoam tile walls and a collection of teapots hanging near the door. They were for show, as White only took out the silver one for company, now in the middle of the table.

As usual, Yellow didn't drink. She merely sat upon her creaky wooden chair as White performed her ritual, pinky out and pouring cream into her cup, stirring with a small silver spoon.

The only sound between them was that of the silverware chiming against the porcelain rim of the cup. Yellow had pointed her attention at the wall behind White more than at her, and White, like she had with the cream, poured her focus into the tea.

"I can't tell you how unbearable she's been."

White stopped stirring, "I wish you wouldn't say such things," setting the spoon on the table with a clink. "I intended for you to love one another."

"I _do_ love her. That's _why_ this is unbearable. She suffers. Her colonies suffer; her gems suffer. I suffer." Yellow paused, placing her hand flat upon the table. She awaited a response but, in the absence, continued. "If you would just let them meet, I'm sure it would help. _How long_ do you intend to keep her to yourself?"

"Blue would be offended at her creation." Finally, White met Yellow's eyes. "I'm certain of it."

"You can't _know_ that, White. I'm willing to take the risk, if she might finally snap out of this."

"You can tell…" She spoke as if to keep the words not an inch from her lips. "You can tell she's not a real Diamond. Her pupils aren't the right shape; her coloring is off. To listen to her voice, it's too high," her long fingers enveloped the cup. "Blue couldn't possibly pretend that she wasn't shattered, seeing an imitation in such a state…it would only remind her."

"Why do _you_ have her then?"

"Yellow, _please_."

"I can't sit here anymore!" Yellow caused the table to quake. Thunder clapped in the distance. "If you're not going to help me, you're just as useless as she's been!" With that, she marched towards the door. It opened in quick servitude while White sipped her tea.

Just then, she moved away from the barred window. Small hands upon the curtain, she slid to the floor and ran down the hall, passing Pearls half her size.

Gems embedded into their foreheads, they seemed to watch with three eyes instead of two, refusing to utter a word as she ran breathlessly into the sitting room. Her huffs and puffs were about as uneven as her hurried feet, bouncing her curls.

Most of the furniture inside was well bigger than her. If she tried her hardest, she could almost climb into the armchair in the right corner of the room but could never kick her way onto it. Sometimes she had tried launching herself from White's sewing basket, which she dragged into position from the otherside of the chair but couldn't make it even with its assistance. Once she gave up for the perfectly-sized fireplace, incurring enormous trouble for tracking soot around the palace.

Despite her antics, White left her a plush pillow on the floor at the armchair's side. Chubby and pink, it was bordered in lace, and whenever she crashed upon it, a few feathers would come lose.

That day she expelled one—a tiny, plush feather that rocketed into the air and floated gently down. She tried capturing it between her hands, but the wind created in clapping them together sent it consistently out of reach.

The doors opened before she could catch it, but she forgot anyway, yelling, "White!"

"Hello, little one."

She ran to her embrace and White lifted her, walking together to the armchair. "How is my little gem?" She asked upon sitting, reaching for her sewing.

It wasn't clear what White was making yet, but she had woven countless hours into the precise stitches, stretching across the fabric like highways intersecting.

"I missed you!"

"As I missed you," an enormous, pointed hand came and tangled itself into her curls. White petted her, massaging her scalp, nails scratching occasionally by accident.

She relaxed, even at the threat of bleeding. "Will I get to play with the other Diamonds one day?"

White stopped, catching a lock between her fingers. "You heard that Yellow came to visit, did you?"

"Uh-huh. I heard her voice in the hallway."

"I see." White pulled to the end of a strand, releasing it. "Perhaps one day, little one. The others aren't ready because you're so special, but you only need be patient."

"Okay," she said, closing her eyes. "I love you, White."

"I love you too, Pink."

She closed her eyes and her breathing slowed, despite the fresh cut behind her ear.


End file.
